(MC POV)
After giving my girls a brief introduction and explanation of what happened in the last few hours, the tension in the room got so thick you could probably cut it with a knife.
The only people who were unaffected by the tense atmosphere were Iris and Cai Hong, the both of them cuddling against me and ignoring everyone else.
I also realised there was a bit of an inconsistency as my disciples told me Iris's attitude had undergone a drastic change from how she was just the day before.
I had to explain to them that Iris had agreed to temporarily seal her divinity away which was what I told them in the other timeline.
It seems like Iris maintained her status as The End for the entire journey and changed back to my version of Iris the moment I returned.
Now I thought that there was some complicated time thingy going on here and asked omniscience about it, but the answer I got from it was 'it is because of Origin'.
Yeah thanks, as if that explains anything.
And the reason why Iris still allows this country to exist in this timeline despite the people constantly calling me 'god' was that she felt the people here were 'too insignificant to even comprehend the universe'.
My disciples received that tongue lashing from her was precisely because they could or, more accurately, were in the process of doing just that in their pursuit of godhood.
Now back to the current predicament…
Obviously this is a religious issue where my disciples did not agree with Tatiana's open worship of me while Tatiana looked down on my disciples' relig… Err… Fanclub.
And since my disciples still believed I did not know about their fanclub's existence, they didn't want Tatiana revealing it either, hence the tackle they gave her just now to stop her from spilling the beans.
Sorry girls, I already know about the fanclub… But I know they were being considerate of me so I'll just pretend I still don't know about it. In fact, I just want to forget about its existence…
Knowing that the two sides might come to blows if given the catalyst to do so, I tried to change the topic.
"So… Since Guiying is also here, I'll just say it now… Tatiana already agreed to hand over the Dark Sect to us to do as we see fit so we can go round them up whenever we're ready."
Tatiana cleared her throat, "Hmm… To be clear, I agreed to hand them over to Founding God, not Beiyang. So don't even think we're going to be bowing to your demands any time soon, Empress."
Guiying was back to her more regal self since we're in a rather 'official' setting, so she simply smiled at Tatiana's provocation, "No need to worry about such a thing, High Maiden Tatiana. Your attitude has already told me enough that you have no respect for the country that my Master has chosen as His home."
"Fufu, how bold of you to even try and claim our God cares for anything like national borders. The place that He has chosen as His vacation home just coincidentally rested within your borders, nothing more. To think you would even try and lord over Founding God, how presumptuous of you."
"Fufufu~ You're mistaken, the entire country belongs to Master, I am merely just helping Master to take care of the mundane matters. You really are audacious to insult Master's country like that."
"Ahem, ahem!" I coughed, stopping that argument from going any further.
First of all… I don't to hear it being 'my' country. In fact, I'll just pretend I never heard her say that.
And secondly, both of you were happily spreading your legs in front of each other not more than half an hour ago and yet now you're going at each other's throats. Is there anything that I can talk about without anyone here starting another fight?
I sighed, "Anyway… They're in the city of Sinan, so we can pay that city a visit tomorrow morning by teleporting there. I don't think we need to use the carriage anymore, right?"
Tsuki turned to Tatiana and sneered, "To cause problems for Aniue and then make Aniue go there to solve the problem himself… I can't think of anything more insulting than that."
Tatiana tilted her head slightly, "Oh, but such criminals deserve to be struck down personally by Founding God's Divine Judgement, no? To steal that away from our God would be the epitome of disrespect."
"Ara? Wouldn't it have been better if you were to present them as sacrifices to Master instead? Are you sure this is not merely just an excuse to hide your incompetence?" Manami asked.
What sacrifices, Manami?!
"Not to mention the fact that you even allowed such a group to appear in the first place. For a country that boasts on being devoted to our Master, to allow such a group to fester within your borders is more disrespectful don't you think?" Kiyomi added mercilessly.
Valeria gritted her teeth, "None of you know anything… We do not resort to force in creating converts because we follow Founding God's example of benevolence and kindness. These people then sought to take advantage of such kindness, which is why this Dark Sect managed to get protection under the Sinan city's governor."
Elaria crossed her arms, "Hmph! If it was me, martial law would have been enacted and the problem would have been solved. Is your shiny armour and sword all for show?"
Tatiana sighed dramatically, "Oh my… Despite their failings, they are still children of our God. Do we have any right to claim their lives like that if our God has not rained judgement on them?"
"That is a flimsy excuse for your inaction," Lian Li countered. "Precisely because of such a decision you've caused trouble for Master, do you not think that is even worse?"
"That is precisely why we invited our God here to decide their fate, did we not? We are not so brazen to think we can make decisions for our God. In the first place--"
"Enough!" Brendan shouted, slamming the table with his palm. "Master is right here in front of us and we're squabbling over such things like ingrates! That is even more disrespectful than anything that has happened! Have all of you forgotten your places?!"
The girls gasped and immediately lowered their heads.
"OUR DEEPEST APOLOGIES!" All of them said in unison.
Honestly, I was quite surprised that Brendan got angry like that, but that was still a big help so I'll give him headpats later.
Although they also started asking me to punish them for their disrespect, don't think I didn't see you smiling there, Diao Chan.
I know it would be another back and forth if I were to insist on not doing anything so I gave each of them a forehead flick and left it at that.
For Diao Chan specifically… I told her she wasn't getting one and that was her punishment.
Seeing that she collapsed on her knees in anguish showed that it was quite effective as a punishment.
At least now we can finally get to the main topic…
